Dhanteras(धनतेरस), Sanskrit/Marathi (धनत्रयोदशी) is the first day of the five-day Diwali Festival as celebrated primarily in Northern & Western part of India. The festival, known as “Dhanatrayodashi” or “Dhanvantari Trayodashi”.The word Dhana means wealth and Trayodashi means 13th day as per Hindu calendar. It is celebrated on the thirteenth lunar day of Krishna paksha (dark fortnight) in the Hindu calendar month of Ashwayuja . On Dhanteras, Goddess Lakshmi is worshiped to provide prosperity and well being. Dhanteras holds special significance for the business community due to the customary purchases of precious metals on this day. Lord Kubera, the God of assets and wealth is also worshipped on this day. An ancient legend ascribes the occasion to on interesting story about the 16-year-old son of King Hima. His horoscope predicted his death by snake-bite on the fourth day of his marriage. On that particular day, his newly-wed wife did not allow him to sleep. She laid out all her ornaments and lots of gold and silver coins in a heap at the entrance of the sleeping chamber and lit lamps all over the place. Then she narrated stories and sang songs to keep her husband from falling asleep. The next day, when Yama, the god of Death, arrived at the prince’s doorstep in the guise of a Serpent, his eyes were dazzled and blinded by the brilliance of the lamps and the jewellery. Yama could not enter the Prince’s chamber, so he climbed on top of the heap of gold coins and sat there the entire night listening to the stories and songs. In the morning, he silently went away. Thus, the young prince was saved from the clutches of death by the cleverness of his new bride, and the day came to be celebrated as Dhanteras. The following day came to be called Naraka Chaturdashi (‘Naraka’ means hell and Chaturdashi means 14th). It is also known as ‘Yamadeepdaan’ as the ladies of the house light earthen lamps or ‘deep’ and these are kept burning throughout the night glorifying Yama, the God of Death. Since this is the night before Diwali, it is also called ‘Chhoti Diwali’ or Minor Diwali.

LORD DHANVANTARI Dhanvantari is an avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism. He appears in the Vedas and Puranas as the physician of the gods (devas), and the god of Ayurveda. It is common practice in Hinduism for worshipers to pray to Dhanvantari seeking his blessings for sound health for themselves and/or others,

especially on Dhanteras.Main objective of Dhantares is lost in current money minded world.According to another popular legend, when the Gods and demons churned the ocean for Amrita or nectar, Dhanvantari (the physician of the Gods and an incarnation of Vishnu) emerged carrying a jar of the elixir on the day of Dhanteras.In olden days your health was more important then anything else in World and basically Dhantares was associated with Lord Dhanvantari who gifted the knowledge of Ayurveda to the world but now due to effect of age of Kaliyuga,the world has forgotten the main aspect of Dhantares and due to aggressive marketing by merchants this festival is now limited to buying new things only. Cars sale is highest on this day then any other day in india same applied to Gold also.Same happend to festival like Akshay Tritya. Let’s not forget the main objective if our ancient festival and celebrate Dhantares with buying things which helps to lead a healthy life.Lets not promote materialism on festival instead promote the core beliefs of our sages which were more human and aimed for global Peace & health.